Global warming puts 12 US parks at risk: report

[deadparrot]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Global warming puts 12 of the most famous U.S. national parks at risk, environmentalists said on Tuesday, conjuring up visions of Glacier National Park without glaciers and

All 12 parks are located in the American West, where temperatures have risen twice as fast as in the rest of the United States over the last 50 years, said Theo Spencer of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"Rising temperatures, drought, wildfires and diminished snowfalls endanger wildlife and threaten hiking, fishing and other recreational activities" in the parks, Spencer said in a telephone news conference. "Imagine Glacier Park without glaciers or Yellowstone without any grizzly bears."

Most climate scientists believe Earth's surface temperature has risen over the last century or more, spurred by human activities that produce greenhouse gases, which trap heat like the glass walls of a greenhouse. Some skeptics doubt that people affect global climate change and say temperature fluctuations have occurred throughout history.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060725/ts_nm/environment_parks_dc

[rodeodance]

1. "Glacier National Park without glaciers ". We have a problem Houstan!

[rodeodance]

2. 4.2 stars

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4.2 stars

[Toots]

5. Since there is no longer a reason for a park, better sell it to oil compan

:shrug: Jobs you know.....

[Lisa]

18. "The Park Formerly Known as Glacier"? (n/t)

[krispos42]

3. Think of all the savings!

Imagine all the federal money we can save by shutting down those ex-parks. And we can sell the land to the timber and oil industries for pennies an acre!

YES YES YES YES YES!!!!

And now we can cut taxes for the rich even more!

Oh, man, and we can give tax subsidies and development money away as well!

:sarcasm:

It's a neocon wet dream! I guess I'd better invest in companies that make hand lotion and upholstery stain remover!

[bennywhale]

4. There'll be more than parks shutting down across the rest

of the world now the effects are starting to kick in. Millions dead, millions of refugees, flooding, famine, cultures and civilisations uprooted, eco-systems wiped out.

What a world we are leaving.

When i look back on previous generations and ancestors it often with respect, admiration and affection for thwe way they were and what they achieved. I wonder how our descendants will look back on us???

[Lorien]

8. We won't have descendants. I believe that if you are under 50, your

generation is among the last. The horrors you describe will be here in 10-15 years; eco-systems are already being wiped out at a sickening rate.

[Lorien]

6. Once again the MSM repeats the "most scientists" line without

mentioning that ALL scientists that have had their work reviewed by their peers in major scientific journals agree that A.) global warming is happening and B.) humans have caused it. The only "scientists" who are skeptical are unreviewed paid hacks for Exxon Mobile, the Heritage foundation and other institutions who undermine true science for their own political and monetary gain.

[tex-wyo-dem]

13. Thank you! I was about ready to say this...

"most scientists" my ass...try all who aren't bought and paid for by the oil industry and neocon fascist think tanks. The good ole U. S. of A. is one of the very few industrialized countries in the world who doesn't consider global warming and the fact we are causing it as a matter of public policy. The RW in this country has been very successful in marginalizing the whole issue.

[htuttle]

7. Glacier Nat'l Park to be renamed 'Muddy Valley National Monument'

[central scrutinizer]

12. New name: "George W. Bush National Useless Area"

[jwirr]

17. Just change that a bit. Useless George W. Bush National Area.

[lonestarnot]

9. Who has time or gas to get to a park anyway. With all the slave

laboring, looks like parks are on the least of our worries list. Greenhouse? Who has time to water plants? :sarcasm: Global warming? Is that something the government is doing to cut down on heating bills? What a thoughtful government. :puke:

[RCinBrooklyn]

10. If only greenhouse gasses killed a select kind of Bushes, .

[XemaSab]

11. I call BS

there are a whole bunch of parks that would be under water if sea levels rose... Everglades, Dry Tortugas, Pt Reyes, Assateague, Acadia... islands in the Pacific...

We're not talking about loss of a few scenic features, we're talking about loss of quite a bit of the park land itself.

[goforit]

14. What will the Bush logging industry do?

[Straight Shooter]

15. National parks are attractions which draw many tourists.

Those tourists significantly bolster the economies of surrounding towns. I wonder how many of them are towns with inhabitants who will regret their vote for bush, if they haven't already.

[maxsolomon]

16. Glacier never had THAT many Glaciers.

like most glaciers in N. America, they've been disappearing for the last 100 years. All the significant glaciers in the lower 48 are in Washington State - on the volcanoes & in N. Cascades NP.

except for the big boys on Mt. Rainier, they're retreating at an increasing rate. this is far more worrisome than Montana's remnant glaciers, as they provide a significant amount of Seattle's hydro power on the dammed Skagit river.

the effects of Global Heating are here, and switching from a Hummer to a Geo Metro isn't going to make the glaciers grow again. humans need to grow the fuck up & address this, but its going to take the rest of my life span, if not a hundred years.

i don't predict extinction for humankind or the planet, but i foresee die off. there are too many people, and they are naturally rapacious.

[Lisa]

19. hydro power, salmon, irrigation ...

Good point, maxsolomon. Yes, that snowpack is much more than just pretty scenery! The economy of the Pacific Northwest is highly dependent on that water supply.